Official Twitter account of Tourism Ministry hacked

Maldives Police Service, on Thursday, confirmed that the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Tourism was hacked and that the matter was under investigation.

Several criticisms of the government’s COVID-19 response efforts were tweeted from the ministry’s account after it was hacked.

Notably, the perpetrators criticized the state’s supposed failure to utilize foreign aid for the benefit of Maldivian citizens and demanded that the public be informed of how these funds were being spent.

The police have urged frontline workers against clicking suspicious links or forwarding codes and passwords, warning that these cyberattacks were often carried out from duplicated accounts posing as a contact of the intended victim.

Many people are receiving links through WhatsApp with a code message from their contacts. DO NOT CLICK on suspicious links even if it’s from a contact! Those are cyber attacks coming from duplicated profiles. 1/2